Review - Deadpool 2 (2018)

     Hey guys, Chuck here. With the success, both critically and commercially, of Deadpool in 2016, it was almost guaranteed that a sequel would soon follow. This time around, however, the directing job was passed from Tim Miller to a new director David Leitch. Oh yeah! David's the man. I mean, you all saw that Hobbs and Shaw movie last year, right? Ugh. Yep, here we go again. So, let's dive into Deadpool 2 with special guest: Deadpool.

    The movie opens with Deadpool, played once again by Ryan Reynolds, failing to take down a contract. Deadpool is then driven home to his apartment by his cabdriver friend Dopinder, played by Karan Soni, where Vanessa, played once again by Morena Baccarin, is waiting for him with exciting news. The two then spend a lot of time talking about starting a family, when the contract arrives and kills Vanessa, Deadpool kills them all in retaliation, and the next six weeks are spent with him suffering from extreme depression. Oh, right, and then I tried to kill myself, had a vision of Vanessa, and awoke alive and all in one piece in the X-Mansion, all because of Colossus. Yeah, Deadpool, that's right. It's also here that we are re-introduced to Negasonic Teenage Warhead, played by Brianna Hildebrand, along with her girlfriend Yukio, played by Shiori Kutsuna. Now, in the 2013 film The Wolverine, a much different version of the character was portrayed by Rila Fukushima, but we'll talk about her another time. Anyway, Deadpool is made a trainee of the X-Men, and goes along with Colossus and Negasonic to respond to a call about a mutant child named Russell Collins aka "Firefist," played by Julian Dennison. Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha! I'm sorry, but Firefist? That's still so stupid! Okay, we get it. Russell's self-appointed moniker is a little cheesy. A little cheesy? Oh, shut up! I'm getting to the cool part. Anyway, after Deadpool realizes that Russell is being abused by the staff of the orphanage by its staff, including the headmaster of the orphanage played by Eddie Marsan. Deadpool then starts killing everybody, and both he and Russell are locked up. It it here that I'd like to mention another new character in this movie: the cybernetic, time-traveling badass Cable, played by Josh Brolin. Cable has traveled back through time from the future with one goal: kill Russell.

    In the mutant prison known as the Ice Box, Deadpool and Russell are forced to wear mutatn-suppressing collars. Unfortunately, the collars are starting to kill Deadpool, who isn't able to heal. Cable shortly arrives, and kicks the crap out of everyone there, but Deadpool breaks free of the collar and starts to fight Cable to get Vanessa's coin back. Russell, who overhears Deadpool tell Cable that he doesn't care about what happens to the kid, runs off. Near death once again, Vanessa tells Wade to protect Russell, and Deadpool, with help from Weasel, played by TJ Miller, assembles a team to save Russell from his confinement. Ooohh! Now this is where I put together the X-Force, with guys like Bedlam, played by Terry Crews, Shatterstar, played by Lewis Tan, Zeitgeist, played by Bill Skarsgard, Vanisher played by Brad Pitt, and my sweet sugar bear, Peter, played by Rob Delaney. We all try to airdrop onto a convoy that Russell is part of, but due to high winds, everyone is killed off one by one. Well, not quite everyone, Deadpool, as you forgot to mention one other member of X-Force: Domino, played by Zazie Beets. She survived, and worked with you to rescue Russell, fighting both soldiers and Cable. But it's at this point where we see that Russell has found a new friend in the unstoppable Juggernaut.  

    After returning to Blind Al's place, along with Dopinder, Weasel, and Domino, Deadpool learns from Cable about the threat that Russell would become in the future, and that unless Cable stops Russell from making his first kill, the future will be a dark one with Russell as a mass murdering dictator. So, Deadpool, Cable, and Domino decide to team up to stop Russell without killing him. Deadpool returns to the X-Mansion to get Colossus' help in defeating Juggernaut, but Colossus refuses, having been let down by Deadpool one too many times. Man, what a colossal whiner. Well, it's your fault, Deadpool. Come again? Let's face it, you're a complete psychopath. A killer through and through. And seriously, you are waaaayyy too meta for your own good. Seriously, you're so meta, that Yakko, Wakko, and Dot from the show Animaniacs will most likely seek out legal action against you for stealing their bit. Okay, first of all, I'm not afraid of those kids. Second of all -- Wade, what's going on here? Holy crap! Cable? Hey, could you get rid of this guy? I'm trying to finish my review of Deadpool 2. Sure thing. Come on, Wade, let's go. Time to go home. Oh, by the way, I'm looking forward to this year's 12 Reviews of Christmas. Wow, thanks Summers. okay now that Deadpool is gone, let's finish the review. 

    So, Deadpool, Cable, and Domino arrive at the orphanage to stop Russell from killing the headmaster, but his heart is still corrupt because of the hurtful things Deadpool said in the Ice Box. Colossus, Negasonic, and Yukio arrive, and Colossus fights and defeats Juggernaut Cable tries to kill Russell, but Deadpool takes the bullet for him, thus ending the path of evil that Russell was doomed to walk down. Wade has a vision of Vanessa once more, and the two seem to be reunited forever, but due to Cable using his time device to save Deadpool, he is alive, and everything turns out just fine. During a series of mid-credit stingers, Negasonic and Yukio fix Cable's time device for Deadpool, who uses it to save Vanessa, keep Peter from dying, and killing the version of Deadpool from X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and finally, blowing out Ryan Reynolds' brains all over the script for Green Lantern, in a joke, mind you, that royally pissed off the execs at Warner Bros. 

    So, Deadpool 2 has a lot of great new additions. I really enjoyed Cable and Domino, and the performances of both Josh Brolin and Zazie Beets in their respective roles were top notch. I also admired the concept of giving Negasonic Teenage Warhead a girlfriend, and the addition of an LGBT couple in the movie was pretty smart on the filmmakers' part. However, the meta humor, waste of talented actors on X-Men characters that got killed off way too easily, and some of the visual effects did drag the movie down a peg. However, it's still entertaining. And I remember laughing my ass off with the mid-credits scenes. Overall, not quite as well put together as the first, Deadpool 2 only gets a rating of 4/5 What?!? Only a 4/5?!? Deadpool? How'd you get back in here? Oh, you think that time-traveling, cybernetic soldier is enough to keep me out of this review? Think again, pal! Anyway, I think Deadpool 2 deserves better than just a 4/5. Don't you?  Well, in truth, only the theatrical version of Deadpool 2 gets a 4/5. There is one more version of Deadpool 2 that does get a much higher rating. Wait, which versi-- oh! You don't mean that PG-13 version that I did with Fred Savage, do ya? Well, much like the readers, you'll have to find out this December. Anyway, on behalf of both Deadpool and Cable, I'm Chuck, and I'll see you guys next time.